DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicants Abstract): A lengthy history of research has implicated socioeconomic status (SES) as a determinant of health outcomes, but only recently have older adults, as a specific group, become part of the SES and health discourse. Although older adults appear particularly sensitive to physical functioning differentials across SES categories, a number of related issues are still not well understood. Studies have yet to examine the impact of SES on various components of functional disorder, such as the determinants of onset, severity and progression.